This weekend I started reading Managing the Dynamics of Change by Jerald M. Jellison. This book talks about people's emotional resistance to change and how to manage it. With my background on technology it's easy for me to look at things (including change) from the logical and rational point of view but, as the author points out, “successful implementation [of process change] ultimately comes down to getting people to begin doing things differently” and logic and communication is not always the only tool that is needed.

Jellison describes how performance goes through a J Curve when people is asked to change the way they do things. In this curve we start with certain performance level that immediately drops as a change initiative is started, after a short period performance levels starts to climb up again until it reaches and then passes the initial levels. He describes this as five stages of change:

• Stage 1: The Plateau – at the beginning, before any new effort gets underway
• Stage 2: The Cliff – as soon as the change begins, performance drops, people are fearful
• Stage 3: The Valley – things start to get better, employees turn cautiously optimistic
• Stage 4: The Ascent – performance improves at a faster pace
• Stage 5: The Mountaintop – performance passes the levels of Stage 1 and keeps going upwards

Most people go through the five stages, from the managers that come with the new idea to the people that will eventually implement it. However, as Jellison points out, “management is usually in Stage 4 and heading into Stage 5 by the time they decide an idea is good enough for everyone” but the rest of the team is just about to see the cliff!

There are two main points that I've taken from this book. One is that there is a strong emotional component to change and we should address it instead of pretend it does not exist. The second is the fact that most people go throught different stages and that they might do it at different times.

Jellison describes the typical approach of persuading people to embrace the new way of doing things. In this approach the new vision is laid out, the need for change explained, the plan detailed, and off we go. The idea is that if you communicate your message clearly people will follow you. He points out that persuasion only works with people that are already predisposed to the change or that are almost ready for it, but not the rest. If you don't address the emotional factor when implementing change you run the risk of getting “lip service” rather than real behavior change. People might tell you that they are going to do things the new way and not do it. The persuasive approach works very well once people reach stage 4 (i.e. they are not fearful and can co-relate the leader's vision with what they are doing) but it does not work in the first three stages.

Another approach that he proposes to manage change is what he calls activation. In this approach people get to try the new approach right away, in small increments, and in a safe environment, one in which people have positive experiences right away so that they move faster from resistance to conversion.

“Activation is a bottom-up approach to change. It gets employees to take actions in the new direction even though they have doubts and fears about doing so. Persuasion, by contrast, is a top-down model. Persuasion assumes you have to change employees' attitudes before they'll start to actually move in the new direction. [...] Persuasion is directed at thoughts and beliefs while activation works because it addresses people's feelings.”

He explains several techniques to facilitate change including

• Communicate at ground level
• Ask, don't tell
• Front-load rewards and
• Make it easy to start

Definitively a good book to read if you are in a leadership or management position.